Maddon: Cubs' game 4 blowout 'picked us up'

LOS ANGELES - Baseball people will tell you momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher, but there's no doubt Wednesday night's 10-2 victory over the Dodgers lightened the mood around the Chicago Cubs.

The victory tied the National League championship series at two games apiece, meaning the series will be coming back to Wrigley Field.

"It definitely picked us up," manager Joe Maddon said Thursday. "The offense definitely created a stir within the dugout. Whenever you're not hitting, it always gives you the appearance of being lethargic which is not true. It's just you're not hitting. So finally you start hitting and all of a sudden the vibe picks up, and then you go out and play like crazy for nine innings and you do a nice job and you win.

"The positive side, normally, you get a little bit of a bump from that, especially this time of the year."

Treading lightly on Lackey:

Wednesday night's starting pitcher, John Lackey, was not happy with being taking out of Game 4 in the fifth inning. Lackey walked the first two batters of the inning with the Cubs holding a 5-0 lead.

Maddon didn't want to let that lead get away, so he turned to lefty Mike Montgomery. Maddon said he knew Lackey wasn't going to be happy.

"I took a deep breath," Maddon said. "I walked around the decal (NLCS logo on the field) again. I could see that he was dropping that line, 'You got to be … kidding me.' I've seen him do that before, to other managers, too. I was anticipating it and expecting it. But you've still got to do what you've got to do."

Good to go:

Maddon said reliever Carl Edwards Jr. was OK Thursday. He came out of Wednesday's game with tightness in his left hamstring.

"It was diagnosed as a cramp," Maddon said. "It feels really good today. PJ (athletic trainer Mainville) was working and said there is really nothing there right now, which there never is. It was even less than nothing right now. He said he's fine."

Maddon was referring to Edwards' slender build.

Holy homer, bat man:

Much was made of Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo using teammate Matt Szczur's bat for his home run in Game 4. Szczur is with the team but inactive for the NLCS.

"Tony just wanted to get a feel for something else," Szczur said.

Maddon had a bat story.

"The one time with the Angels we were going badly, and the guys decided to use the same bat for the first time through the batting order," he said. "Orlando Palmeiro was the first hitter, and he gets called out on strikes, drops the bat on home plate. And the home-plate umpire threw him out of the game thinking he was trying to show him up. And which we're, 'No, no, no.' We had to explain he was leaving it for the next guy. So that was the most extreme case I've ever seen with that. So I think it was Tim Tschida, he might have been the umpire, and he reinstated him. That might have been the craziest. Otherwise, guys change bats all the time."